Topographical lines

It strikes me as I look out at all the curves of white that this winter has changed the shape of us here.

October 2013

In places where two months ago I walked on level ground, there are dense mounds of tiny ice crystals waist-high, knee high, shoulder high. Rooftops end in curves, trees and traffic signs are coated in snow – the town has the look of a David Milne painting.

January 4, 2014

What does this do for us here, in the snow belt – this fact that there is no level ground – that we now walk over, through and inside apparently infinite amounts of frozen water? Views once clear and straight are now obstructed by six-foot walls of snow. We shovel, push, blow it aside daily, but even those piles encroach now, shrinking the roads, the streets, the parking lots.

Our external topography is changed, and – this being early February, when 2 weeks of heavy snow is still to come – it will continue to change.

I can only speak for myself of course, though I suspect this could be true for many here. I think all this heavy white landscape calls us to ourselves, and to one another. It’s not an easy thing – to be cabin-fevered with your partner, yourself or with young kids who have not been to school for days and days. To be huddled around block heaters together because the oil truck couldn’t get to your house, or to spend two hours, twice a day shovelling and blowing snow just so you can get to work, to the grocery store.

If ever a time there was when creativity and ingenuity was essential, it would be this winter. In fact, Winter 2013-2014 could have a subtitle: “How we learned to become unstuck”.

Post navigation

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Upcoming Events

No upcoming events

Chalk Horse, 2014; 48″sq, acrylic and mixed media on canvas.

Round One – 36″ Sold.

underdrawing for Round One

studio shot of Teacup

teacup Detail

Silence (detail), from Sea Hear, 2001

In the Sea Hear series from 2001 I used ocean imagery and whales to describe sound and memory

Hologram, from a series of paintings about music from 2001. I’ve always wanted to create a third image that exists in front of the painting, depending on the light & time of day. It worked in this one.

Opening selfie for the #Selfie project, 2014

detail from Hip Cello, 2008. Acrylic and china marker on linen

“White”32×32, Acrylic on white indian cotton.

“Totem”, for #Selfie, 2014 Sold

“Black”, from #Selfie 2014 42×42″ Sold

Backdrop from Circle Bar Studio – 8 years of drips

Georgian Bay roar

“Snakeroot”, 6×6″, graphite and acrylic on paper, 1999. Sold

6×6″, mixed media on paper, 1999 sold

reference for 2 paintings I’m doing for a Chinese New Year show

Playing with Tyler Wagler for Larry Jensen. Photo by Katherine Mann Jensen